Freedom Path so far has produced TV ads and mailers supporting Hatch’s 2012 reelection bid. The group also has supported Republican Utah Sen. Mike Lee and GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney. J. Scott Bensing, a Freedom Path board member, told Roll Call that the group will be active in Nevada and Texas and a few other states in 2012. The organization is not to be confused with FreedomWorks for America, a Tea Party-aligned group, which has run ads criticizing Hatch.

Freedom Path is a 501(c)(4) nonprofit, which means it can raise unlimited amounts of money and does not have to disclose its donors. Based in Salt Lake City, the group has spent $300,000 so far this year on TV ads and mailers — all of which supported Hatch and attacked his Republican challenger, Dan Liljenquist. Hatch easily won the primary.

Freedom Path Action Network, a sister super PAC, has an address in Reno, Nev. It is allowed to raise and spend unlimited amounts of money provided all donations and expenditures are reported publicly. Its FEC filings show the super PAC was created in January 2011, but has been largely inactive.

Mark Emerson, another board member, served as chief of staff to Ensign when he was a Nevada congressman and to former Rep. Chris Cannon, a Utah Republican. Emerson also worked for Hatch and was executive director of the Utah Republican Party. Emerson made an unsuccessful run for the U.S. House to represent Utah’s 2nd District in 2000. He was president of English Language Learning Instruction System (Ellis Inc.) before it was acquired by Pearson Digital Learning, where he is director, according to Freedom Path’s FEC filing.

The group hired the consulting firm November Inc., which is run by Mike Slanker, a former NRSC political director and Ensign aide. Slanker managed (see page 8) Ensign’s 1998 and 2000 election campaigns. Slanker’s wife, Lindsey, was the NRSC’s finance director. Slanker explored the idea of working for Hatch’s campaign during this election cycle but ultimately declined.